Porto Scooter Co. started as one thing and became another. The original idea was a bit of a hail mary, born out of a dream of Europe and a love of two wheels. That first concept didn’t work out, but what came from it did: a scooter rental business built around adventure, fresh air, and the idea that you don’t need an itinerary to have a good time.
Today, Porto Scooter Co. rents and sells Citycoco scooters and accessories out of a storefront where the front is dedicated to rentals, complete with charging batteries, hanging helmets, and vintage-inspired merch, while the back handles sales and repairs.
The business doesn’t have one typical customer. Students in town for a festival, expats showing visiting family around, empty-nesters trying something new, and families camping nearby all show up looking for a way to explore beyond the usual route. Porto Scooter Co. links directly to its Booqable booking page from its existing website, so customers can reserve a scooter online before they even arrive, though walk-ins are welcome too if inventory allows.
Before Booqable, the two-person team ran everything through Wix, which the owner describes as complicated and convoluted, and it didn’t really work for a rental business. Switching to Booqable as their rental management back office and booking platform, with Bo the AI assistant on hand and security deposits built into the flow, changed that.
Getting quick answers with Bo AI assistant
Running a two-person operation means there’s rarely time to dig through documentation or wait on hold for support. Before Booqable, figuring out how to solve a problem in the rental system often meant stopping what you were doing and troubleshooting on your own. Porto Scooter Co. now uses Bo, Booqable’s AI assistant, to ask a question and get a straight answer while still moving through the day.
The owner put it simply: Bo is wildly useful, and they’ve always been able to ask a question, get an answer, and solve whatever they’re trying to do.
That kind of quick problem-solving adds up. For Porto Scooter Co., Bo has helped them:
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Get fast answers to day-to-day questions instead of stalling on a task
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Spend less time walking customers through booking issues, since the flow itself is easier to manage
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Keep inventory properly allocated, which has made double bookings a thing of the past
With a small team, every minute matters. Having Bo available means the owner can keep working instead of getting stuck, and that’s freed up time to focus on the parts of the business that actually need a human touch.
Turning security deposits into easy upsells
Before Booqable, receiving and refunding deposits was one of the biggest headaches at Porto Scooter Co. It meant extra trips to the payment processor just to sort out what should have been simple. On top of that, upselling extra items during pickup was awkward when there wasn’t a clean way to charge for them on the spot.
With Booqable, customers pay their deposit upfront when they book online. If they want to add something extra in person, like another helmet or accessory, they can subtract the charge out of the deposit they’ve already paid. The owner said the pickup, return, and deposit refund process is so, so easy now, and that people are always fine paying from their deposit, which makes for less friction on the upsell.
That shift has made a real difference:
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Deposit refunds happen inside Booqable instead of requiring a trip to the payment processor
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Adding items in person during pickup is quick, with no separate payment step
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Customers are more willing to say yes to extras since the charge just comes off what they’ve already paid
What used to be a source of friction and extra admin work is now one less thing to think about. The owner isn’t fixing payment issues after the fact anymore, and upsells happen almost on their own.
An easier way to run rentals
Porto Scooter Co. has seen the impact well beyond deposits and quick answers. Check-in is easier, records are digital, and invoices go out directly from Booqable, which the owner says has made customers happier overall. Positive reviews are up, and rentals have grown by what the owner describes as orders of magnitude, a 300% increase since switching.
Add in a straightforward Shopify integration and compatibility with their existing payment processor, and the whole setup fits how they already run things. As the owner put it, day-to-day work is just easier. Porto Scooter Co. is proof that a small team can run a growing rental business without getting buried in admin.
Between Bo answering questions on the fly and deposits that double as an easy upsell tool, the owner has more room to focus on what got them into this business in the first place: getting people outside, on two wheels, with nowhere in particular to be.
